Case Studies

Clients choose Grafton Banks for our collective expertise, market insights and our efficient and reliable recruitment process. We know the credentials our clients are looking for, and the candidates who will excel within an organisation.

We've helped companies across Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire to find the right finance staff during difficult and competitive climates. Here you can scroll through examples of our recent success stories to understand the Grafton Banks process that we can apply to your company.

Group Financial Controller vacancy

Grafton Banks Finance has been working successfully with a £160m turnover company based in Crawley for the past 6 years. During this period we have sourced a number of senior accounting professionals to fill vacancies within the company's growing finance team.

These have included:

Chief Accountant

Financial Accountant

Group Financial Accountant

Commercial Finance Manager

Divisional Financial Controller

The Brief

We met with the Group CFO and the Managing Director to gain extensive knowledge as to what was required of candidates in terms of skill set, technical ability and personality traits for the Group Financial Controller position.

The ideal candidate needed to possess strong controllership skills, extensive technical and commercial acumen, IFRS expertise and group accounting experience; all of which would have been gained within a particular sector.

We began our search speaking and meeting with appropriate candidates already known to us, while simultaneously advertising, networking and headhunting so that we were able to attract the best of both the active and non-active
job seekers.

By combining these search methods we were able to present a shortlist of candidates with proven experience in all the required areas. We asked each of these individuals to look at the job specification and provide us with a detailed description of their relevant skills and why they felt they would be suitable for the role. This information was then passed to the CFO and MD to support the candidates CV in the application process.

The Result

The CFO and MD met candidates at interviews and were then able to swiftly and efficiently make offers to very credible candidates on completion of the candidates' notice periods. During this process we constantly engaged the client and the candidates and ensured that interest was maintained and everything ran smoothly.

"Grafton Banks has a good understanding of our business built up over several engagements and quickly grasp our requirements for specific roles. Pre-selection is good and we are only presented with appropriate candidates. Grafton Banks provide a high level of proactive and personalised service and we trust their advice on candidates".

Multiple Part-Qualified Level Finance Recruitment

During the past six years
Grafton Banks Finance has worked closely with a growing East Sussex based SME. During this time the company experienced exceptional growth and we have sourced numerous finance staff to facilitate their expansion.

These have included:

Financial Controller

Senior Risk Analyst

Finance Manager x 2

Senior Financial Accountant

Financial Accountant

Regional Office Accountant

Assistant Financial Accountant x 2

Assistant Accountant x 2

Senior Finance Analyst

Finance Analyst x 3

Accounts Payable Manager

The Brief

We met with the Financial Controller, who outlined the company plans to restructure the finance team by centralising three positions to the East Sussex head office. The Head of FP&A required two Part Qualified Finance Analysts and one Senior Finance Analyst to join his team. The recruitment of these positions would be staggered to assist with on-boarding and to ensure a smooth transitional process for each of the roles.

The Senior Finance Analyst post required a Finalist level CIMA / ACCA accountant who will be tasked with providing support and analysis to the Head of Management Information and Head of Financial Planning & Analysis. The selected candidate will prepare and distribute monthly management reports and provide ongoing financial support to budget holders.

The Result

Grafton Banks sourced three successful via headhunting, direct advertising and by contacting existing registered candidates. The client interviewed 2 to 3 candidates per job and successful candidates were offered the role within days of an initial meeting. With the assistance of an Interim Finance Specialist (also placed by Grafton Banks Finance), the positions were successfully relocated to East Sussex. The client was highly satisfied with the smooth and effective level of transition throughout the recruitment process.

"I have successfully recruited 4 people via Grafton Banks Finance and during this process I never received a CV that was not appropriate for the role. If this is not a perfect example of understanding the requirements and sourcing relevant and suitable candidates, then I don't know what is. Some agencies will call you far too often and some will just send you CVs out of the blue. With Grafton Banks Finance, I was only contacted when there was something to discuss and have never been sent any CVs
out of the blue. Another example of the great service that Grafton Banks Finance offers. The fact that I never had any issues or questions is testament to the service I received from my Consultant. I wouldn't hesitate to use Grafton Banks Finance again."

Group Finance Director vacancy in Surrey

The Brief

Grafton Banks Finance was asked by the CEO of a global £20m turnover company in Surrey to implement a recruitment campaign to find a Group Finance Director.

The CEO needed a strategic senior finance professional to work closely with him and the Board, to grow the business from £20 to £100m turnover over the next five years.

The candidate would also need to be able to demonstrate proven capability in reviewing, negotiating and managing complex, long term commercial business to business contracts.

Grafton Banks' campaign included advertising, networking and headhunting for the most relevant finance professionals in the market, as well as sourcing candidates from their own database.

A shortlist of five relevant CVs was submitted and two candidates out of the five were asked to attend an interview.

One of these candidates was asked back for a final stage interview and was subsequently offered the position.

The whole process was completed within a period of three weeks.

The Result

Both the client and the candidate were very pleased with the result. The client was particularly impressed with both the relevance of the CVs received and the speed and efficiency of how the process was managed.

The candidate made the following comment on the service he received:

"I have always held in high regard the way my consultant and his team at Grafton Banks conducts business, as since I've known him he has always practised the values of tenacity, honesty, creativity and professionalism.

The business style is a perfect blend of technology and social media, combined with old-school networking and understanding his clients
and candidates requirements. I highly recommend working with Grafton Banks, and I look forward to continuing doing so for many more years".

Chief Finance Officer vacancy in Surrey

The Brief

Grafton Banks Finance was approached by the CEO of a rapidly expanding Private Equity backed FinTech SME based in Surrey to implement a recruitment campaign to find a Chief Financial Officer.

The CEO needed to be a commercially astute finance professional with previous Private Equity and FinTech sector experience at a CFO level. The plan was to dramatically increase revenue over the next five years and exit. With that in mind the CEO wanted a CFO who had previous experience of preparing a company for sale.

The organisation is global so required someone with knowledge of international accounting and multi currency. The position would cover all aspects of accounting for the business, however the most important area of the role was to offer commercial and strategic input to help grow the business. He wanted a candidate with sales forecasting, business planning and contract review and renewal experience as well as confident cash-flow management skills.

Grafton Banks Finance campaign included advertising, networking and targeted headhunting for the most relevant senior level finance professionals in the market as well as sourcing candidates from their own database.

A shortlist of seven relevant CVs was submitted and five candidates out of the seven were asked to attend an interview. Two were asked back for a second stage interview and one was eventually asked to meet the Chairman and offered the position.

The Result

Both the client and the candidate were very pleased with the result. The client was particularly impressed with the standard and relevance of the candidates submitted and it was a difficult choice to decide who to offer the position to out of the final two candidates in the process.

"My Consultant at Grafton Banks Finance met with me to take a detailed brief on the role to support the job description. I was very pleased with the quality of the candidates that were identified. My Consultant kept me posted throughout the process and in a refreshingly 'light touch' way compared to the other recruiters who are largely disrespectful that there is a 'day job' to do as well. The recruitment process with Grafton Banks Finance was very smooth, straightforward and business-like. I was very happy with the outcome too."

Grafton Banks Finance has worked closely with a leading Surrey based financial services organisation for a number of years. As a result of a recent £1.4bn merger with a major competitor and relocation of the London offices to Surrey we were approached again to support with the recruitment of ten vacancies at part qualified and qualified level. The vacant roles covered several different skillsets - accounts payable, tax, treasury, life and group accounting. There was a tight deadline to complete all the recruitment in just over three months to ensure people were in place ahead of the upcoming year end and to allow time for training and handover ahead of the closure of the London finance function.

Part and Non Qualified level vacancies placed:

Treasury Accountant

Assistant Treasury Accountant

Assistant Accountant

Cashier

Accounts Payable Assistant

Qualified level vacancies placed:

Group Financial Reporting Accountant

Life Accountant

Tax Accountant

The Brief

The consultants at Grafton Banks Finance received a thorough briefing from the internal recruitment team who outlined the requirements for each role and details surrounding the restructure since the merger. The Consultants also took the time to meet with the Head of Finance which provided an opportunity to gather more detail about the department and the vacancies. Some of the positions we were asked to assist with were particularly specific to the sector of the organisation and required candidates with a certain industry and skills exposure.

The Result

Grafton Banks successfully placed all five of the part and non qualified level vacancies and three out of the five qualified level positions. We were able to do this via a range of market and sector knowledge, head hunting, direct advertising, referrals and by utilising our own extensive candidate database. The client was very happy with the speed of the service and the number of vacancies Grafton Banks Finance was able to successfully fill.

"Grafton Banks Finance listened to the briefing carefully and asked a number of pertinent questions, particularly to gain an understanding of the relative importance of our priorities where the more complex roles required a range of different skills. Grafton Banks Finance undoubtedly understand the local market and how to identify suitable candidates. They were extremely responsive, quickly identifying high quality candidates for each of the roles we were recruiting for. For a number of roles we were in the fortunate position of having several excellent people to select from. Contact was focused by well-timed emails or calls to ensure we maintained the momentum and managed to complete all the recruitment by the target date.

"Grafton Banks Finance really understood the brief and this allowed them to have useful input into discussions around individual candidates and their suitability for particular roles. It was a pleasure to work with Grafton Banks Finance on this assignment. They have sourced high quality candidates who are a great fit with the existing team and helped ensure a smooth transition of work from London to Surrey."

Multiple Interim Finance Recruitment in Sussex

The Brief

Over a period of 18 months Grafton Banks Finance partnered with a large international group, whose head offices are based in Sussex, to provide interim finance staff to support significant changes within the finance team. These changes included the creation of a shared service function and the moving of the business's US finance function in to the UK. Grafton Banks Finance met and worked closely with the Finance Director, Head of Shared Services and other stakeholders, who were affected by the changes, to fully understand all the details of the work required and interim cover needed.

Interim positions placed:

Interim Financial Controller - UK & Ireland

Interim Project Finance Manager to manage the move and integration of the US general ledger in to the UK finance team

Interim Project Finance Manager to work on the move and integration of the US shared service function to the UK

Two Interim qualified Financial Accountants

Two Interim part qualified Financial Accountants

Interim Financial Planning Analyst

Interim Credit Manager

Interim Accounts Receivable Manager

Multiple interim Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable staff

The Result

The businesses Shared Service function is now established and their US operations have been moved and fully integrated in to the UK business. A number of the interim accountants placed by Grafton Banks Finance have been retained on permanent contracts in the new structure whilst one of the project managers is now working within the programme management team on other ongoing projects. Grafton Banks Finance continues to act as the partner of choice for interim finance needs for this business.

"Grafton Banks Finance is particularly adept at understanding the key technical and personal skills required by the specification. They propose a select number of candidates by utilising their contacts to meet the criteria, in contrast to the competition that provided a list of candidates 'currently available' whether meeting or not meeting the criteria. Contact is kept to a minimum as and when required, which maximises efficiency on both parties. They deal with any problems that may arise in an open and honest manner. I would thoroughly recommend them."

Partnering with HR - Kimberly-Clark

Since 2008 Grafton Banks Finance has been successfully partnering with Kimberly-Clark in Reigate and Brighton as a preferred supplier for finance recruitment. Kimberly-Clark is a US owned global $20 billion FMCG company employing over 57,000 staff across the globe with large UK finance teams in Surrey and Sussex.

The Partnership

Over the past nine years, we have placed in excess of 20 finance staff with Kimberly-Clark on a permanent, interim and contract basis at a fully qualified and part-qualified level. The team at Grafton Banks Finance has made it their business to understand the organisation, the cultural fit and the skills and background of candidates needed when recruiting. This means we have filled 95% of the vacancies we have been asked to work on. We have successfully partnered with the HR team at Kimberly-Clark and have kept in regular contact in order to understand the latest business changes and developments. This has enabled us to best represent the company and attract the most relevant candidates in the market.

"Alex and the team at Grafton Banks stand out for all the right reasons, and in a saturated market they know exactly what to do to ‘get it right’. Being able to strike exactly the right balance between collaborative and consultative, they really take the time to understand you, your business and how they can best support your needs. I’ve always appreciated the open, honest and straightforward approach taken by all the Grafton Banks Consultants I have worked with. I know I can discuss a brief with them and feel 100% confident that there is hard work going on behind the scenes. They also manage to strike the right balance between keeping us in the loop versus just getting on with it. They’ve maintained great service and delivery through a number of clients, functions and locations that I’ve supported with. The candidates that come through from Grafton Banks are ALWAYS a cut above the rest – I don’t know how they do it! I would have no hesitation in recommending them to other customers." - Recruitment Business Partner at Kimberly-Clark